Prediction of Bearing Capacity of the Square Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Columns: An Application of Metaheuristic-Based Neural Network Models.

During design and construction of buildings, the employed materials can substantially impact the structures' performance. In composite columns, the properties and performance of concrete and steel have a significant influence on the behavior of structure under various loading conditions. In this study, two metaheuristic algorithms, particle swarm optimization (PSO) and competitive imperialism algorithm (ICA), were combined with the artificial neural network (ANN) model to predict the bearing capacity of the square concrete-filled steel tube (SCFST) columns. To achieve this objective and investigate the performance of optimization algorithms on the ANN, one of the most extensive datasets of pure SCFST columns (with 149 data samples) was used in the modeling process. In-depth and detailed predictive modeling of metaheuristic-based models was conducted through several parametric investigations, and the optimum factors were designed. Furthermore, the capability of these hybrid models was assessed using robust statistical matrices. The results indicated that PSO is stronger than ICA in finding optimum weights and biases of ANN in predicting the bearing capacity of the SCFST columns. Therefore, each column and its bearing capacity can be well-predicted using the developed metaheuristic-based ANN model.